Jack continued to explore different ways to use the game mechanics of this world. He tried interacting with even more objects around him in order to harvest them. He knelt to the ground to pick up a tuft of grass. As he held his grass in his hand, he could feel his intentions guiding the aura into surrounding the grass before disintegrating it into particles of light to be absorbed by him.
[+1 Grass]
So I don't necessarily have to punch something in order to harvest them, Jack thought. Not for certain items at least. Maybe smaller objects are able to be harvested without punching them.
He got curious and started punching the ground, wondering if he could harvest dirt from it as well. As soon as the punch landed, bits of dirt floated in the air for a brief second before being turned into light particles and absorbed.
[+1 Dirt]
There was no durability meter for the ground this time. Perhaps the dirt was loose enough that he could just harvest them bit by bit with each punch. With that in mind, he started gathering a decent supply of grass and dirt as well.
Next, he tried figuring out the size limit of objects that could be harvested without being broken down first. He gathered bits of rock of varying sizes around him and lined them up from smallest to largest. He'd planned to harvest each of them one by one using his "picking-up" method to see where the size limit caps out.
He started with the smallest rock, which was a tiny pebble about the size of his thumb. He absorbed that easily. Next was a slightly larger rock, which he was able to absorb as well. The next couple of rocks---each slightly bigger than the one before---were able to be absorbed without any trouble. It was only until he came across a rock slightly bigger than his fist that he started having some problems.
He tried extending his aura to absorb that rock, but failed to do so. No matter which way he tried to hold the rock, he couldn't dematerialize it. He observed the rock carefully to get a grasp of its dimensions. Suddenly, by focusing his eyesight, he seemed to gain the ability to activate some sort of augmented reality visualization designed to analyze the dimensional measurements of the object he's holding. It was in the form of a light-blue holographic cube surrounding the rock---with measurement numbers showing its length, width, and height.
At first, the cube had read 0.1 meters on all sides. However, as soon as Jack began interacting with it, the cube started squishing and stretching its dimensions to try to fit the rock inside it while maintaining the same volume and same rectangular prism configuration. No matter how it tried, it couldn't seem to encapsulate the entirety of the rock inside its boundaries. Any attempt of trying to absorb the rock had failed and only caused the aura to briefly flash red, which must have been a visual indication of the failure of the attempt.
Jack put down this rock and picked up another rock that was a bit longer and thinner. This time, the cube was able to fit the shape of the rock inside it, allowing him to dematerialize it.
So there is a size limit to the objects I can absorb by picking it up. And that size limit is a 0.1 meter cube, Jack thought. As long as an object can fit inside a box that has the total volume of a 0.1 meter cube, I could harvest it instantly.
Using his newfound knowledge, he continued harvesting more materials---this time with more efficiency. He tried instantly absorbing the smaller objects upon holding it, leaving the larger objects to be broken down by his fists.
After a couple more minutes of gathering, he decided to take a break. He felt like he'd gathered more than enough materials to be used for the time being. And just then, the thought suddenly hit him. Gathering materials was good and all, but how was he going to access the materials he'd harvested? Usually, in games like Minecraft, there's supposed to be a menu for you to access your inventory and crafting. Where was his version of a menu button for this world? Being so distracted with harvesting all this time, he hadn't quite thought that far ahead.
But just as he was thinking that, something flew towards Jack and hit him right at the back of the head.
"Ouch! What the-" Jack turned around to look.
The object that flew into him was a worn leather boot. Stuffed inside the boot was a roll of paper. Jack turned to look at the general direction that it was thrown from. There was no one there. Feeling curious, he picked up the boot and took out the roll of paper in order to read it.
Pull your finger, it read. At the bottom-right corner, there was a crude pencil drawing of Truck-kun.
Jack suspected that this must be one of his dumb jokes again. He glared towards the sky with an irritated look on his face. He wondered if Truck-kun was watching him all this time, laughing in the background as he watched Jack suffered his torment.
"Screw you! I'm not pulling your finger!" Jack yelled at the sky.
Then another boot was thrown at him, hitting him at the back of his head again. This one also had a roll of paper in it, which Jack took out to read as well.
Not my finger. Your finger, it read.
Jack considered the message with heavy suspicion. Just what kind of game is this guy playing? he thought. This better not be some elaborate prank that he set him up with.
With cautious intrigue, Jack examined both of his hands. He then used his right hand to pull his left index finger. It resulted in a faint electronic clicking sound, followed by a sort of light projection shooting out of his chest and sprawled out in front of him. It was some kind of holographic menu, one about the size of a computer monitor that displayed all the essential information he might need.
The menu was organized into four major sections, each taking a quadrant of the screen.
The top-left quadrant was the "Player" section. Like the name suggested, it showed a player profile of Jack, complete with a portrait of Jack's face and a chart listing his status effects. The "Status Effect" chart was empty at the moment. He figured it would only list the effects that he was currently experiencing right now---effects such as being poisoned or suffering from a disease. This could come in handy if he were to suffer some debuff and don't know what it was---he'd be able to learn about it from this menu.
The top-right quadrant was the "Recipes" section. It showed a whole list of recipes for tools and items that he was able to craft. Within this section, there are six different tabs, each represented by an icon. Jack tapped on each of the tabs to check what they represent. The six tabs are labeled as such: Basics, Workbench, Cooking, Smithing, Alchemy, and Enchanting. Aside from the Basics tab, all of the items from all of the tabs are labeled as question marks. Even within the Basics tab, there are certain named items that are listed in bold black color and those that are grayed out. He compared the two categories of items and suspected that the ones that were grayed out were simply the items that he did not have the required materials for to craft.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The bottom-left quadrant was the "Inventory" section. It showed all of the raw materials he had collected thus far, organized into a five-vertical by ten-horizontal grid-like pattern where each item occupied a different slot. He could hover his finger over to each item to get a small rectangle showing all the basic information of that item. There's a scroll bar to the right of the grid that he could use to scroll down and access more inventory space. There was also an indicator on the bottom of the grid that was labeled as "Weight: 137 / 1,000 kg". This showed that his storage space wasn't necessarily limited by volume but by weight instead. He now had 137 kg of material and his max limit was 1,000 kg. He wondered if it was possible to exceed the weight limit and if there was some sort of encumbrance debuff associated with it. He'll have to test that out later.
The bottom-right quadrant was the "Crafting" section. It contained areas with different labels such as the item picture, ingredients, and crafting time---all of which are left blank at the moment. Jack assumed that they would automatically be filled out with the information of whichever item he'll select to craft.
Aside from those four main quadrants, there were also four empty slots on each of the sides outside the main rectangular screen. On the right, it's labeled as "Right 1", "Right 2", "Right 3", and "Right 4". On the left, it's labeled as "Left 1", "Left 2", "Left 3", and "Left 4". Going by gaming logic, those were probably a unique version of a hotbar, where one can assign and equip different tools or items in order to quickly access them without going into the menu first.
Jack tried interacting with the menu in various ways. He tried moving and rearranging items into different slots within the inventory. After that, he tried dropping some items. By pressing the "Drop" button on each of the items, he could essentially unload certain items back into the real world, turning them from data back into solid pieces of material in front of him.
Next, he tried crafting something. One of the items on the Basics tab of the Recipes section was a stone axe, which he thought would be a good place to start. He tapped on its icon on the menu to reveal more information about that item, information which are then displayed on the Crafting section.
[Stone Axe]
Ingredients:
* 1 Wood
* 1 Stone
* 1 Grass
Crafting Time:
* 3.0 seconds
Jack pressed the button that said "Craft" in order to begin the process. Once he pressed the button, a circular indicator appeared on the Crafting section that acted as a sort of timer, counting down the duration as the circumference shrinks accordingly in a clockwise manner. After three seconds, just like it was stated, a stone axe was added to his inventory. He reached out his hand to perform the gesture of grabbing the "Stone Axe" icon and it immediately materialized into an actual stone axe in his hand.
Jack stared in awe at the tool he's holding in his hand. He had finally crafted his first item. The stone axe was of a rudimentary and makeshift design, similar to what someone would use in the Stone Age. Even so, crafting it felt like a huge achievement to him.
If he'd remembered correctly, having a tool equipped allows you to harvest materials faster. Jack tested out this theory by using the stone axe to harvest some more wood. As he swung the axe to hit the wood, he could feel his aura extending into the axe itself with every impact. Indeed, harvesting materials with tools did allow him to harvest much faster.
Next, he needed to figure out how to equip the stone axe to one of the quick-access slots. He tried moving the stone axe near the slot labeled as "Right 1", causing it to dematerialize and be absorbed into that slot, which now showed the item's icon and name.
Alright, I've assigned it onto one of the quick-access slots, Jack thought. Now how am I going to equip it?
Almost as if in response to his question, a series of icons appeared on his hand. The palm of his right hand had the word "Right" on it and each of the tips of the fingers was labeled with a number. The index finger, in particular, was labeled with the number "1". Then a 3-D image of a hand right next to his actual hand performed the action of tapping its right thumb with its right index finger twice in quick succession. Jack followed what the image had shown him. By double-tapping his right thumb with his right index finger, the stone axe that was equipped in the "Right 1" slot had now materialized in his hand.
Jack could now figure out the rest from here. Each of the quick-access slots can be accessed by double-tapping the thumb of each hand with its corresponding finger. With the index finger, it's "1"; with the middle finger, it's "2"; etc. This was probably applicable to both the left and right hands, hence the separation of left and right. He tried switching the stone axe back and forth between the slots to confirm his suspicions.
Once he started to get the hang of it, he decided to craft some more items. There's one particular group of items that sparked his interests---a set of basic clothing.
[Linen Shirt]
Ingredients:
* 5 Grass
Crafting Time:
* 5.0 seconds
[Linen Pants]
Ingredients:
* 5 Grass
Crafting Time:
* 5.0 seconds
[Straw Sandals]
Ingredients;
* 2 Grass
Crafting Time:
* 2.0 seconds
He quickly crafted them and put them on, tossing away the hospital gown he'd previously worn. They were comfortable enough to wear, especially on a warm day like this. Plus, it made him look like a medieval peasant, but, like, not in a demeaning or insulting way---more like in an immersive way, like he's actually part of the medieval fantasy world he'd transported into.
Finally, the moment of truth has arrived. He was going to craft himself...a wooden plank, like the ones in Minecraft. Labeled as "Wood Block" on the Recipe section, Jack selected it and initiated the crafting.
[Wood Block]
Ingredients:
* 5 Wood
Crafting Time:
* 1.0 seconds
After crafting one block, he equipped it before placing it on the ground a couple meters away from him. He could see it now. A cube of solid wood a meter wide placed firmly right in front of him. Of all the things he had crafted until now, this might perhaps be the most awesome yet.
He observed the wood block carefully. He tried touching it, feeling it, smelling it, even licking it. It was indeed a wood block of excellent quality. He then tried standing on top of it to see if it could support his weight, which it did. He felt a sense of triumph overcoming him---a sense of hope that he was ready to face anything.
Then, in that one brief moment of pride, while he was still standing on top of the block, Jack started dancing. He's pulling all sort of dance moves that he could remember from Fortnite. Because if he was going to be transported into another world, he might as well dance to his hearts content, as though no one was watching.
Then another boot flew right into his face, knocking him off the wood block. Jack opened the message.
Stop dancing. You look stupid, it read.
Jack glared at the sky. He was reminded that even if no one was around, he will always be watching. "Shut up! I'm trying to have a moment here!" As he ranted, he flung the boot away in frustration.